Balamurugan, J. and Thangamuthu, R. and Pandurangan, A. and Jayachandran, M. (2013) Facile fabrication of dye-sensitized solar cells utilizing carbon nanotubes grown over 2D hexagonal bimetallic ordered mesoporous materials. Journal of Power Sources, 225. pp. 364-373. ISSN 0378-7753

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Abstract

High-surface area and well-ordered mesoporous Fe incorporated SBA-15 (Fe-SBA-15), FeeCr incorporated SBA-15 (FeeCr-SBA-15) and Cr incorporated SBA-15 (Cr-SBA-15) catalysts are synthesized following a controlled post synthesis grafting process. The activities of all the catalysts are tested systematically and quantitatively towards the production of carbon nanotubes (CNTs) by chemical vapour deposition. In order to obtain CNTs with high quality and quantity, the parameters like temperature, reaction time and gas flow rate are optimized. Under optimum conditions, the FeeCr-SBA- 15 catalyst is produced with high yield and uniform diameter of CNTs. The transmission electron microscopy result reveals high purity and well-graphitized structure of CNTs. The synthesized CNTs are used as counter electrode material for dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs). The CNTs based counter electrode shows good chemical stability, lower charge-transfer resistance and higher electrocatalytic activity towards I3 �/I� redox reaction than that of platinum (Pt) counter electrode. The energy conversion efficiency of the CNTs counter electrode based DSSCs reaches 8.86% under irradiation with a simulated solar light intensity of 100mWcm�2. The results prove that CNTs are one of the suitable candidates for Pt free counter electrode for DSSCs

Item Type:	Article
Uncontrolled Keywords:	Counter electrode; Dye-sensitized solar cells; Charge-transfer resistance;Carbon nanotubes
Subjects:	Nanotechnology Electrochemical Materials Science
Divisions:	UNSPECIFIED
Depositing User:	Dr. N Meyyappan
Date Deposited:	30 May 2013 07:57
Last Modified:	30 May 2013 07:57
URI:	http://cecri.csircentral.net/id/eprint/3031

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